Signs of the Times: Unlocking the Symbolic Language of World Events

by Ray Grasse

We may live in astonishing times, but they are not incomprehensible when you know how to read the signs.

Everybody says we're entering the Age of Aquarius, but when does it start, and how will we know what it looks and feels like? Ray Grasse deciphers the signs and correspondences of our nearing Aquarian future, using the tools of astrology, synchronicity, and mythology. He draws richly from contemporary religion, art, politics, science, even current movies, to show how the cultural signs of Aquarius and our likely future are already apparent and changing our world.

The Aquarian Age will be marked by its intensely mental quality, when information will be the driving force of society and the biggest challenges we face will be those of the mind. Decentralization will be the order of business, either the empowered individual will reign supreme, or the collective interests of globalized society will predominate. It could be both.

We are all participants in the global drama and all aspects of our inner and outer lives are bound up with the new Aquarian themes. Signs of the Times is the authoritative travel guide for the trip into our future - don't leave the present without it.

Genres: Astrology, Nonfiction

299 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2002

Reviews

[Valerie Easley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had I known about Ray Grasse's writing in 2012, this is the book I was looking for. It's long been clear that we are moving into an entirely new time, a renaissance of sorts, and hopefully one beneficial to our evolution as a species. What does that look like? How will it play out? What role, if any, do we have in its unfolding? Grasse uses culture as context for much of his examination, and the clues that emerge suggest an Age that will look very different than this one. The roles of myth, synchronicity, and astrology (a study of synchronicity in itself) are explored and their interwoven influences illuminate this journey forward. Signs of the Times is a book I come back to again and again, offering new perspective with each reading. A rewarding contemplation.

[Patricia Barlow-Irick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exciting book for those who love the symbolic realm.

[Nick Stibbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book looks at the perceived astrological shift into the age of Aquarius from our position at the tail end of the age of Pisces. Grasse does not think we will move into any totalistic utopian state, but that utopias and authoritarian regimes will co-exist on the planet, so wistful hippies may be disappointed that not all will share their fields of flowers for ever after.

A distinction is made between Piscean modes, transitional modes and Aquarian modes. Addiction to alcohol and drugs is categorised as a Piscean mode (that star-sign being typified by an emotionality which may correspond to addiction); 12 step groups are perceived as being transitional because they are loosening individuals ties to substances they have become addicted to, moving into a group context but still ruled by the higher power of a Piscean nature (AA was set up with the help of a Christian group called Moral Rearmanent, as well the counsel of both Carl Jung and a medical doctor).

Grasse highlights the Wizard of Oz as a film exemplifying Aquarian values. Dorothy and her band of helpers all journey towards to wizard who they think can help them, but they experience an awakening when they realise that the wizard is a flawed human being too and it is up to them to help themselves. It is this self-empowering, distinctiveness, yet within a context of association and cooperation with others that Grasse thinks are important in delineating the Aquarian spirit. He also looks at the way jazz musicians work together, in a connected yet fluid way, which marks them as moving into different waters from the older classical style. Improvisation and experimentation are qualities encouraged in jazz bands, rather than playing music from a score-sheet handed down from on high by a erudite composer and led by a single conductor. There is a loss of a fixed centre as we move into a kaleidoscopic, multi-perspectival, context where mixture and cross-pollination is perceived as a good thing, rather than a threat to endangered purity.

Technology also plays a part in Grasses distinction of Aquarian culture from the previous one. The use of TV and mega-churches demonstrate an employment of Aquarium technology to spread Piscean religious values. Air travel, electricity and the internet are all emergent forms of Aquarian culture, where speed and connectivity are emphasised.

There's a lot to this book and I haven't read it for many years so can't do it full justice in this review. Grasse is clearly an intelligent writer who has considered historical/astrological/philosophical matters fairly deeply and presents them in a very accessible way. He is not going to win any fans from members of religious traditions who want to see their truths maintained in any exclusivist way but it is gratifying that he does not seek to make a religion out of his predictions about this coming age, since a re-engagement with the personal within wider networks seems to be one of its key-notes.

[Abner Rosenweig · Rating 5 out of 5]

To build an arch, a wood frame is inserted for support and then removed once all stones are in place. In SOTT, Grasse uses astrology (principally), synchronicity, and mythology as a frame through which to explore the modern world, where we've been, and we're we're headed. While much of the frame material (astrology, etc.) comes across as absolute blatherskite to me, when I take that out of consideration, the remaining commentary provides a magnificent understanding of world trends.

Grasse's astrological analysis of moving out of the age of Pisces into Aquarius is diaphanous at best. He cherry picks a few marginal examples that conform to his argument, but he doesn't consider the central events of history. To make his theories fit, he makes some odd claims. The Piscean Age, which according to him lasted from 1 A.D. to 2000 A.D., was feminine and sacred? Capitalism, America, and the media, have been positive developments for the individual? Clearly, some of the author's viewpoints are simplistic and misguided. By using astrology as a lens through which to observe world trends, the analysis is frequently contrived, imprecise, and inaccurate. From my perspective, then, this system is unnecessary. Grasse's personal insights into culture are much more useful.

Grasse covers an impressively broad range of topics and draws attention to many important cultural trends. To name a few: an integrative mindset; postmodern decentralization, paradox, and multiple perspectives; holistic systems thinking; the rule of money and speed; the loss of identity and impersonality of mass life; social alienation and "life in a box"; worldliness, materialism, and mechanization; the rise of the common man, democratization, and collective mediocrity; the danger of excessive government and business control; the electrification of society; the bold optimism as well as the dangers of the age of science and technology; displacement of the religious ("transcendental") impulse; the tyranny of Ouranian rationality, utilitarianism, and practicality; space travel; information; the subjugation of nature.

Despite some of the head-scratching claims, Grasse's writing is always provocative and entertaining, and he offers fascinating critical insight into history, society, and culture. Read the book, and enjoy.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very helpful book to add to your repertoire. Just to read it you can open your mind and add your own tool, your own version of this. At least that is what i got from it.